Abstract: A system which provides “hands-off” accommodation of an elderly, technically-challenged and/or disabled user, enabling them to stay well-connected through “virtual visits” with friends and family members. Such “virtual visits” duplicate the rich shared experience of a personal visit, through multimedia conferencing and synchronized sharing of digital media, including personal photos, home videos, or other types of digital media. The “hands-off” capability is enabled through a controller which can be installed in laptops or computer-based devices, which interacts over the Internet with a player installed for the elderly, technically-challenged and/or disabled user. The controller user interface provides controller users with the means to easily initiate, control and synchronize a “virtual visit” with the player user via the Internet, and remotely control the operation of the player, as well as the player user's television and other home entertainment devices.